Haunted houses and Halloween nights in Charlotte, and where to eat after

Halloween 2026 is a Saturday, and the clocks go back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1. The Panthers are away that week, but the World Short Track Championship runs October 29 to 31 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord. Apart from the uptown ghost walks, the scares are outside the city: SCarowinds on the state line to the south, and haunted trails on farms and in woods in Mooresville, Monroe, Statesville, Shelby and Hickory. This is the scary half of a night out. The eating half is at the end, at three burger kitchens just outside uptown.

I write the haunt guides on Mr. Fear, a Halloween site, and I am a guest here. Top of Charlotte asked for the haunted houses. They supplied the tables.

The night, in order

Pick one haunt and one part of the map per night, because the drives are long. Book ahead: Scarrigan Farms requires reservations, and Lake Hickory Haunts sells one-hour arrival timeslots and says its Orange nights are the most crowded. Bring cash: Scarrigan Farms takes the balance at the door in cash only, and Midway Wicked Woods sells on-site tickets and parking for cash only. Read the costume rules first. SCarowinds bans costumes, masks and full face paint for guests 13 and older, and The 13th Acre and Midway Wicked Woods ban masks and props. At SCarowinds, anyone who leaves after 7 p.m. cannot get back in. Eat after, but watch the clock, because the kitchens below close at 10 and 11 p.m. on Saturday. No official trick-or-treat hours had been posted for Charlotte or Mecklenburg County when I checked.

The haunted houses

• SCarowinds, Carowinds: five haunted mazes, including the new JASON: Blood Reign, plus five scare zones and nightly shows while the rides run in the dark. Select nights from September 11 to November 1. Mazes need a Haunted Attractions Pass on top of park admission. Not recommended under 13.
• Scarrigan Farms, Mooresville: a walking trail the organizer says is over one mile long, on a 300-acre farm. Open October 2, 3, 9 to 11, 15 to 18, 22 to 25 and 29 to 31, and November 1. Guests must be 12 or older, and no bags. Use the West entrance.
• The 13th Acre, Monroe: a two-part trail, Coffin Creek and a wooded second trail, that the organizer calls the longest haunted attraction in the Carolinas. Fourteen select nights from September 19 to October 31, gates at 7 p.m. The organizer says it may be too intense for children 12 and under.
• Midway Wicked Woods, Statesville: a wagon ride to the trailhead, then an unguided walk through the woods and a 600-foot dark maze. Nights from October 2 to 31, to 11 p.m. on October 30 and 31. Not recommended under 10.
• Lake Hickory Haunts, Hickory: thirteen attractions around a large body of water, open select nights September 12 to November 7. Small Town Titans play October 30 and 31.
• Trail of Terror at Shelby Corn Maze, Shelby: a haunted walk through the corn maze after dark on Fridays and Saturdays in October. The organizer says it is an hour from Charlotte.
• Museum of the Waxhaws Haunted Trail, Waxhaw: a lantern-lit trail through the museum woods, October 16 and 17 only, 7 to 9:30 p.m.

With kids

The trails set their own age floors, so plan the daytime events for younger children. Tricks and Treats at Carowinds runs select days from September 12 to November 1 with a Trick-or-Treat Trail, and park admission covers it. Owl-O-Ween at Carolina Raptor Center in Huntersville is Saturday, October 17, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; bring your own bag. Davidson’s free Halloween March goes down Main Street on Friday, October 23, with lineup from 5 p.m. On Halloween itself, the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville offers free child admission, with conditions, on October 31 and November 1.

Twenty-one and over

Nightly Spirits runs its Haunted Booze and Boos Tour in Charlotte Center City year-round, a walking ghost tour with stops at haunted bars, for guests 21 and older. On Halloween night, Crawl With US runs a seven-bar Charlotte Halloween Bar Crawl from 4 to 10 p.m.; its age rule was not posted yet, so read the FAQ. At the haunts, The 13th Acre sells alcohol in its VIP Oddities Bar, and the Quarry Restaurant at Scarrigan Farms sells draft beer and wine. For a ghost walk without the bars, Carolina History & Haunts runs a lantern-lit tour of uptown by reservation.

What is not open this year

None has confirmed a closure, but four have not announced 2026. The Fear Farm in Blacksburg, SC and Forbidden Forest Horror Trail in Rockwell still show 2025 seasons on their own sites. Great Wolf Lodge Concord has not posted Howl-O-Ween, and Boneyard Bash at Discovery Place Science has not been announced. Where a listing site shows dates for them, the organizer has not confirmed those dates.

The full list

Dates, ticket rules, ages and directions for all of these, plus the pumpkin patches and corn mazes, are on my beat, not a restaurant site’s. The full Charlotte haunted trail and Halloween events guide on Mr. Fear has all 20 listings checked against each organizer’s own page, with the links to book.

Where to eat after

Uptown sits in the middle of the haunt map, with Carowinds to the south and Mooresville to the north. All three kitchens are just outside it: Ace No 3 on Belmont Avenue and Harriet’s Hamburgers on North Brevard Street to the northeast, and Pinky’s Westside Grill on West Morehead Street to the west. On Halloween Saturday they close at 10 and 11 p.m., so book an early timeslot. These three are on the Top of Charlotte burger list. The scores are theirs, not mine.